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Latest News

Boston Lyric Opera presents Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Boston Lyric Opera's new production of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream opens tonight in a company premiere directed by Tazewell Thompson.

David Angus, who made his BLO debut with Idomeneo in April 2010, leads his first production as music director of the company.

Susanna Phillips, a regular at New York’s Met, will perform the role of Helena. She is joined by John Gaston, debuting as Oberon, rising sensation Nadine Sierra as Tytania, and English National Opera favourite, Andrew Shore, as Bottom.

Some of the production’s set designs include ideas contributed by elementary students from RAW Art Works in Massachusetts, who were inspired by hearing Britten’s music.

BLO's main performing space, the Shubert Theatre, will feature a lobby bar and a special social media/Twitter lounge for students during student night performances.

Director David Pountney to head Welsh National Opera

Welsh National Opera has announced the appointment of David Pountney as the company’s new Chief Executive and Artistic Director, effective from September 2011.

Pountney has enjoyed a long association with WNO and knows the company well. Over the years, he has directed many acclaimed WNO productions, including a series of Janačék’s operas for which he was awarded the Janačék Medal in 1978. His next production with the company will be Berg’s Lulu in Spring 2013.

Responding to news of his appointment, Pountney said: “I am really thrilled to have the chance to lead a company that has long been very close and important to me – a national and international company that has enormous potential to be a powerful creative force on the European opera stage. I look forward to being able to deploy the international experience I have gained over the last years to lead this flagship company into a new era of artistic adventure.”

The 63-year-old British-born opera director is also currently the Intendant of Bregenz Festival in Austria, a position that he will continue to hold until his contract ends in 2013.

Pountney’s Bregenz Festival productions have included three operas for the vast outdoor stage on the lake (The Flying Dutchman, Nabucco and Fidelio), as well as other productions by Martinů, Rimsky-Korsakov and Mieczyslaw Weinberg for the indoor theatre.

Mexican-born composer Daniel Catán dies, aged 62

28 April 2011, Pasadena, US

Composer, Daniel Catán(Photo: Elizabeth Beristain)

The Mexican-born composer Daniel Catán has died of a heart attack, aged 62.

Known for bringing Spanish-language operas into the international repertory, Catán cultivated a lyrical, neo-Romantic style that was at odds with the ultra-Modernism of his former teacher, Milton Babbitt.

His works for stage culminated in last year’s hugely successful world premiere of Il Postino at LA Opera, starring Plácido Domingo as the poet, Pablo Neruda.

Born in Mexico City to a family of Sephardic Jewish and Russian descent, Catán studied Philosophy at the University of Sussex, UK, before enrolling in Princeton as a PhD student in composition.

His breakthrough came in 1996 with Florencia en El Amazonas (Florence in the Amazon), an adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera. Premiered at Houston Grand Opera, this was the first Spanish-language opera to be commissioned by a major American opera house.

Salsipuedes, a Tale of Love, War, and Anchovies followed in 2004, featuring a libretto by the Mexican Nobel prizewinner, Octavio Paz. But Catán's biggest hit was undoubtedly Il Postino – a “delicately lovely score” (Opera Now) that played to sold-out houses at its Los Angeles premiere in 2010.

Catán is reported to have been working on a new opera at the time of his death.

Daniel Catán’s Il Postino will receive four performances at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris between 20 and 30 June 2011.

Lyric Opera of Chicago names new general director

The Lyric Opera of Chicago has appointed Anthony Freud as the company’s new general director, effective from 1 October 2011.

The 57-year-old Brit is currently the general director of Houston Grand Opera.

He succeeds William Mason, under whose 13-year leadership the Lyric Opera has become one of the most artistically respected companies in the world.

Speaking to the Chicago Tribune last week, Freud said: “I’m both honoured and thrilled [by this appointment]. One of the things that excites me most is the opportunity to get to know both the company and the city. I emphatically don’t believe in a generic opera company serving a generic city. Ultimately each company has to identify how it can do the best possible job for its audience and its city, taking its own characteristics into account.”

With 17 years of experience as a general director, Freud is a widely respected figure on the international opera scene. He led Welsh National Opera from 1994 to 2005, and in his present role has helped to strengthen Houston’s reputation for commissioning and producing new works, as well as establishing the company’s education and community initiative, HGOco.

London's ROH enters co-production partnership with the BBC

The BBC and London’s Royal Opera House have entered a co-production partnership to create a range of special opera and ballet programmes for television.

The new deal includes a series on classical masterworks presented by Antonio Pappano, beginning with Pappano's Essential Tosca for BBC Two, plus the development of a new five-part series about singing to be written and presented by Antonio Pappano.

BBC music and events commissioning editor Jan Younghusband said: “This is a hugely exciting development for both organisations. We have enjoyed a strong relationship over many years now and this new creative relationship means we will not only continue to bring great performance to the viewers but co-commission new work with the Royal Opera House especially for TV.”